Wood Brothers Racing has been around NASCAR since nearly the beginning.

Founded in 1953 by Glen Wood, the operation is now run by sons Len and Eddie Wood, with a large helping hand from daughter Kim Hall. The organization's last Sprint Cup Series victory came at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2001, when Elliott Sadler drove the famous No. 21 car that once was piloted by the likes of David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Neil Bonnett and Buddy Baker to Victory Lane.

Len Wood talked with NASCAR.COM about Sadler's victory, the team's struggles in recent years, and the third-place finish registered by part-time driver Marcos Ambrose in the No. 21 Ford recently at Watkins Glen.

Q: Some of Wood Brothers Racing's greatest success has come at Bristol. Why do you guys like the place so much?

Wood: Bristol is close to home. Our home is in Stuart, Va., so being near there is always nice. We won in 2001 with Elliott Sadler. That was the race where with about 160-something to go, we pitted and took tires and fuel. Then they kept having caution after caution. We found after about 30 laps, we were in like second place. So we decided, hey, the tires weren't wearing, it's going to come down to if we can make it on fuel.

It turned out Kevin Harvick had a flat tire or something with about 60 to go, and we took over the lead, and just kind of stayed out there. They kept having caution after caution. We were all like, 'What's the next restart gonna bring?' It wound up that we won the race -- and ironically, the car that followed us across the start-finish line was the 43, kind of reminiscent of the Pearson-Petty days. John Andretti was driving it, but that was the car we beat that day. That was special for us to be competing against the 43, as well, because we've always got along good with Dale Inman, Richard [Petty], Kyle [Petty] and those guys. So that race was pretty special for us.

Q: Can there be a race like that at Bristol again? It seems like they've changed the track -- and the car -- to where there isn't as much banging and aren't as many cautions. How much has Bristol changed?

Wood: They changed the concrete. I think we've had two races on it. It's more parabolic, it's more side-by-side, there may be less passing, I'm not sure ... but it will still be about track position, it will still be about strategy. It's just like a road race. You work a road race backwards. When you know you can stop, you stop as quick as you know you can make it to the end. Then you hope the caution falls when nobody else has stopped, and then you have track position. No matter where we go, track position always is important.

Q: Speaking of road racing, how exciting was it for you guys to recently have Marcos Ambrose climb in the No. 21 and drive it to a third-place finish at Watkins Glen International?

Wood: Well, first of all, it rained out qualifying. We're out of the top 35 [in owner points], so qualifying is always our focus for Friday. So anytime it rains and we still get in, we're like, 'OK, we'll take that and go get ready for the race.' Well, Friday was fine -- but then Saturday morning sunk in and we were like, 'Oops, now we have to start last.'

Glimpse of hope

It was only one race but a third-place finish at Watkins Glen is a reminder of what keeps the Wood Brothers coming back, writes David Caraviello.

• Complete story, click here
• Morale booster at Sonoma

But we were fastest in the first practice and I think we were third-fastest in Happy Hour. So we knew we had a good car. The next day when the race started, [Ambrose] kind of played follow the leader for about five laps and then he started pickin' 'em off one by one and moving through the field. ... Toward the end, we had Juan [Montoya] behind us. He was a threat to pass us, so we were careful there. But we got to third -- trying to get Tony [Stewart for second], trying to hold off Montoya at the same time. Eddie [Wood] came on the radio and reminded us that we needed the points, that Montoya was aggressive and that if he pushed us too hard for third, fourth was OK. But when Marcos beat him to the first corner on the last restart, we knew we were going to be OK.

Q: How was your adrenaline pumping for that finish compared to back in the day during some of those aforementioned Pearson-Petty duels?

Wood: Pearson-Petty days, we expected to win every week. If you didn't, you were disappointed. Now, it's so much harder. Not taking anything away from years ago, but it's so difficult now. Anytime you can get a good finish like that, it's great.

Q: How nervous were you during those final laps?

Wood: I don't think it sunk in with me that we were going to get a good finish until we took the white flag. To me, taking the white flag means there's no chance for a green-white-checkered. I'm not looking at it negatively, but that basically freezes the field. We had enough distance on Montoya that I was like, 'OK, if it doesn't blow up, we'll be fine.'

It didn't really sink in until right at the end. So much stuff has happened to us. Like at Sonoma, we were running second late in the race. I think we had dropped to like fourth or fifth and we got hit in the right-rear wheel about the time [Ambrose] was shifting into first gear. It busted a face plate in the transmission. It was a split second -- and it broke something that isn't supposed to break. It can wear out, but it isn't supposed to break. But that took us from second to 42nd. So, before I was counting that third [at Watkins Glen], I was like, 'We'll have something like the same thing happen.' But it didn't. It all worked out, and that was really good.

Q: What are your plans for next year?

Wood: The plan is to turn the race team around right now. We've got David Hyder in as crew chief; we've got a shock guy and an engineer to go with it. We're making changes to our racecars, trying to make our racecars to where they perform better. That's our main goal right now. Next year we'll follow along with that.

Q: How important is it for you guys and the Pettys to remain fixtures in the sport? Aren't you guys like the Founding Fathers of this whole deal?

Wood: We're not lookin' to go away. We want to get our team turned around. Everybody is like, 'Ah, you need two cars and two teams.' Like we were behind because we didn't do that. But situations dictate what you do. You can't just do it unless you've got the proper funding and the proper people behind it. It just doesn't make sense.

So we're tryin' to get one team going. I think [at Watkins Glen] we proved, at least on that day, that a single-car team can run well. If we hadn't started 43rd, who knows? I mean, he used the car up. It's not that the car was less than it should have been. But he used the brakes up; he used every bit of the car up. So at the end, there was nothing left. It was not like, 'OK, we'll get up here and ride in the top 10 and wait until the last stop [to make our move].' He didn't have the luxury of doing that. He went hard from about Lap 85. He went about 85 hard ones. There were about nine or 10 caution laps over the day, so 75 of those laps he was into the gas as hard as you could ask for -- and he used it up.

Q: Running near the front brought back fond memories, didn't it?

Wood: Yeah, late in the race, when they had that huge wreck, we were the first pit in. Sand was flying in our pits when they hit those barrels, and we were looking back and they were killin' time, I guess -- and they had on the big screen behind us a big picture of Marvin Panch in the No. 21. He won the last race that was a caution-free race that they run there. That was pretty special to look up there and see our dad's car up there.

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We've talked to a lot of people about a lot of different scenarios. ... We've been a family owned deal since 1950, so the right situation has to come up.

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LEN WOOD

Q: It seems like you're taking the baby steps that you need to survive and maybe thrive, but are you confident about your long-term future?

Wood: I won't call 'em baby steps. We're cuttin' cars up. We've got people working 24 hours a day. And I'm not talking about just cuttin' one up. We're cuttin' 'em as fast and making changes as quickly as humanly possible for us, over the last few weeks. The first week is get a racecar that's good, so we try that and we go to Pocono and it all works better. Then the next thing is let's get a backup car, which now we've got a backup car. If they wreck right now, they can pull another one out and be confident that it's the same. Then we built another new one for Bristol with some modifications, and there will be another new one after that. ... We're making changes to ultimately ensure better performance.

Q: You saw what Petty Enterprises did recently with bringing in an outside investor. Is that something Wood Brothers Racing might look to do?

Wood: I would say we're never opposed to improving our race team, however that might be. We've been a family owned deal since 1950, so the right situation has to come up. Like I said, having a teammate [and a second car] would be better, but it's not always the fix for everything. Selling our deal to somebody, if it's not the right guy, there are problems that can go with that. Like I've said, we just need to get better.

Q: Is it at least encouraging that the Pettys appear to be getting some money pumped in, but they're still retaining control of their operation?

Wood: It's hard to say. I think every situation is different. You've got Jack Roush and his relationship with John Henry [and the Fenway Group]. I think that's different than what Ray Evernham has with George Gillet. And I think the Pettys is a different situation from that, yet again. So we've got to find the right situation for us.

Q: Have you had much interest from outside investors?

Wood: We've talked to a lot of people about a lot of different scenarios. But right now, like I've said, our main focus is just to get our cars working better.